Govt probe finds no major irregularities in Indiabulls group: Report

An Indian government investigation hasn’t found any significant financial irregularities in the operations of the Indiabulls group, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies’ shares jumped.

The registrar of companies in its third inspection report has said all transactions between various units of the group have been at arms’ length, the people said, asking not to be identified as the report isn’t public. It also found that loans it had been probing - to DLF Ltd., Americorp, and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group - have all been repaid while those given to the Vatika and Chordia groups are standard accounts.

India’s ministry of corporate affairs had been investigating the Indiabulls group for more than a year after initial inquiries found cross-holdings between the firms and common address for several of their subsidiaries, raising the possibility of the existence of shell companies. The Delhi High Court on Feb. 28 will hear a petition to probe Indiabulls on similar allegations.

Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. surged 14.4% as of 12:08 p.m. in Mumbai on Thursday, compared with a 0.1% advance in the benchmark index. Indiabulls Ventures Ltd. rose 7.5% and Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. gained 4%.

The probe found a few compoundable offenses, such as improper implementation of accounting standards, and appropriate action would be taken in these cases, the people said.

A spokesman for Indiabulls declined to comment while two calls made to the ministry’s spokesman were not answered.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.